Michael Greis of Germany won his third gold at Torino 2006 with victory in the inaugural men's 15km mass-start biathlon at Cesana San Sicario.

Greis won the 20km individual event and also claimed gold after anchoring the German team in the 4 x 7.5km relay.

The silver medal went to Tomasz Sikora of Poland and the bronze to Ole Einar Bjorndalen of Norway.

Greis completed the five gruelling circuits of the 3km San Sicario course in 47min 20.0sec, 6.3sec ahead of Sikora and 12.3sec in front of Bjoerndalen.

The German picked up only one penalty loop for missing one of his 20 targets from four visits to the shooting range, two prone and two shooting.

Bjoerndalen paid the price for missing three targets, two in his last visit to the range, after leading for much of the race in cold, snowy conditions.

Sikora, who finished 5th in the mass start at last year's world championships, picked up only one penalty loop - which takes top male biathletes around 22sec to complete.

AFP